Nikon D600?

The camera business seems most bizarre now.  Low end cameras gain the most pixels.  Mirror-less cameras are crashing the top 10 in Japan, taking spots away from dSLRs.  Point-and-shoot cameras are looking to replace dSLRs, and phone cameras are looking as good as point-and-shoot cameras for most people.

Then, there is this odd rumour about a Nikon D600.

It supposedly has an FX-sized sensor, meaning that it's roughly the size of a 135 format film frame or 24x36mm.  Looking at the model number, I'd guess that they're fitting it between the coming D400 (or forgetting that entirely) and the still-available D700, to have a fourth FX dSLR.  Of course, it would be economical, maybe priced around US$2000.  That might push the D400 down to meet the Canon 60D, retire the D90, update the D7000 to use the D3200's sensor, etc., and also retire the D5100.

Are the loud people who frequently call for a 135 format-sized sensor ready for a camera body that actually has one?  Will they be ready for the back aches of carrying all the big and heavy equipment?  I'm cynical, so I think they'll be complaining about the price of the appropriate lenses.  You're probably not going to get the best resolution out of a 30 year old craptacular Sigma lens that you got from your grandfather but they're not likely to spend the money to commit to the format.  However, I'm cynical, so maybe they'll prove me wrong.

I would welcome a less expensive 135 format body for wide angle work.  As things are relative, the body size will be big for a while, if not for much more than the size of the mirror and the pentaprism.  If large is suddenly light, I'm sure many would be pleased, or shocked, or both.

Nikon has been winning back their advocates since the D300 arrived.  They've shown a willingness to stand up for their business and show that they're not just a company with a long photographic history.  By the end of this year, it should be quite a lot more interesting.

Well, to update this, the D600 arrived and it's everything I would hope to have in an economy shooter for wide angle work.  The D7000 is a good product on which to base a revision, much like the D300 gave birth to the D700.  I'm impressed Nikon.  Keep going, but one thing, fewer bodies make decisions easier, and please, please, make it apparent which lenses are weather-proofed.

Update: Seeing the Canon 6D, Nikon shouldn't be too worried.  I'd think they'd be laughing, actually, but they can't afford to waste time laughing, really.  Eventually, Canon may make a comeback--Nikon did.  Funny how the D7100 is more advanced in AF and other areas than the D600, but since there is no D400, that makes sense.